Over the last few posts I have been talking about “spiritual death” and “physical death.” I explained how Adam had been given absolute authority in all of creation, and he then surrenders that authority and control, over to God’s enemy.

You may not agree with this assessment. That’s okay and I certainly understand. But if you don’t, I would like you to consider an event that happened to Jesus directly after he was baptized. He was led away by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now first, I find it rather interesting that he was led—“by the Spirit of God.” He didn’t run off saying, “Yahoo! I think I’m going to put this ‘God’ stuff to work now.” Nor was the Spirit of God messin’ with Jesus thinking, “I wonder what this Jesus is made of . . .” No. He had to go through this testing.

But during this time of testing, the devil led Jesus up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. The Devil told him, “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them—because they are mine to give to anyone I please. I will give it all to you if you will bow down and worship me.” (Luke 4:4-7)

Now notice that Satan came to Jesus and declared that the authority and glory of the kingdoms had been given to him—and he could give them to anyone he pleased. Who gave it to him? Also, when was it given to him? Well . .. Adam gave it to him when he surrendered his will to Satan.

Now, if the devil had lied to Jesus, and Jesus did not know it, Jesus was not the incarnate Son of God. If the devil lied to Jesus, and Jesus knew that he was lying, it was not a genuine temptation.

If you believe that the Bible is true, and that this was a genuine temptation, then Jesus recognized that Satan indeed had authority and dominion over the kingdoms of the human race, which he could transfer at his will to whomever he wished.

So Satan said, “It has been given to me . . .” It certainly was not given to him by God. No, Satan tempted Eve in the garden because of his bitter hatred of God, and knowing what this man meant to the Father’s heart, it became his objective to separate this union and bring humanity under his bondage and destruction. He knew this would cause our Father the greatest suffering. Yet, Satan, in his malignant character, had no idea what our Father was willing to suffer for this man of his. The sufferings of Calvary demonstrated our Father’s love for us.